Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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145. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the additional school accommodation application submitted by a school (details supplied) when the Department expects to complete its assessment of the application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17444/26]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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158. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the school accommodation crisis at a school (details supplied) in County Louth; when the two promised mainstream classrooms and a second special class will be delivered at the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17823/26]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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159. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps her Department is taking to address the health and safety concerns of staff, students and parents of a school (details supplied) in County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17824/26]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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160. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider inclusion of a school (details supplied) in County Louth and its accommodation needs in the next tranche of NDP-funded projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17825/26]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will provide interim modular accommodation in the short-term to address the accommodation needs of a school (details supplied) in County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17826/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 145, 158, 159, 160 and 161 together.

I can confirm that my department is in receipt of an application for additional school accommodation under the department's Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question.

As the Deputy is aware, I have recently published the NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors. This NDP Sectoral Plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. Six school?projects in County Louth were included in the 105 prioritised projects in the first tranche of projects to progress to tender or construction over the course of 2026 and 2027. This list of projects were prioritised from those projects in the department’s pipeline which were sufficiently advanced to enable them to go to tender or construction over the course of 2026 and 2027.

A department-led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026 and 2027 to assess and evaluate the progression of individual projects. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools.

In general, demographics have been falling at primary level and are due to continue to decrease. Therefore the Department considers it prudent to maximise the use of existing spare accommodation capacity at primary level in the first instance, before considering any applications for further accommodation needs.

Given the general downward direction of overall enrolments in the area the department's focus for the assessment of such additional accommodation applications will be as follows:

- Analyse the extent to which enrolments at this school and neighbouring schools are serving the local area in the first instance. This will identify if some of the pressures on local capacity are arising from the enrolment of pupils from outside the local area where there may be other school provision opportunities available to them.

- In assessing accommodation capacity at this school and neighbouring schools, an assessment will need to be made on how best to utilise existing capacity in the context of both mainstream and SEN requirements in the local area.

The above sets the parameters for the department’s decision-making processes and this will, where necessary, involve engagement with school patrons and relevant individual schools as appropriate.

In relation to the opening of a second special class at the school in question the school authority is advised to contact their local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO). In relation to matters of health and safety Individual school authorities are responsible, in the first instance, for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care.

The Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. The availability of places is a matter for each individual school in the context of their admissions legislation. Schools are required to manage enrolments and keep within their building capacity.

It is within the above context that a decision on additional accommodation for this school will be made and the school authority will be notified directly as soon as a decision is made.